Where next? please give your idea's and feedback

Well, I'm just one guy. So if you could in any way contribute to such a project you're more than welcome! I'll open a new thread on campaigns and post my initial thoughts there.

I have a suggestion, Hendrik but I'm not sure you will like it because it will be more work for you. Can we get rid of the broadside arc and go to port/starboard for the secondary guns? It would make the game much more realistic and doesn't really make the game more complex. We already do it for the torps. If not, how about we use the Masked weapon trait on more ships? Ships like the Iowa shouldn't be able to fire in the front arc(or aft) with their secondaries.

Well, its a very interesting suggestion. It wouldn't involve too much extra work. Because since I've updated the datacards for the 1.4 version, I've also added more lines in the weapon systems section of the cards, so in theory, there would be enough space to double up all secondaries and tertiaries (even on the Fuso's and Ise's).
The main implications would be in the game balance and points costs. Since we would in essence double up all secondaries (currently the game view is to include only half of the real amount since you cant fire both broadsides at one ship anyway). It would improve realism, since you can now actually engage threats from both sides of the ship, but you can see that it also influences a lot of other factors like the DP-mechanics and such.

The reason side-mounted secondaries do not have the 'masked' special rule currently is that it would leave the ships with a much bigger blind spot than they would have in reality. A part of the secondaries (also on the Iowa) were quite capable of firing not directly, but close to, a forward arc. In reality, a ship (certainly a battleship) would rarely be firing dead-forward, as it would also endanger her own systems with super-firing heavy guns (www.kbismarck.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5795). So in the abstraction level of the game, the not-masked secondaries would be able to fire front and back at a half-RoF as stated in the rules. (also check this picture of Wisconsin's secondaries pointing forward en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armament_of_the_Io...91_(NH_97206-KN).jpg)

I'll keep it in mind though, the main reason for condensing the secondaries was space on the earlier data-cards and game simplicity. Some of those factors are no longer a concern, but it seems rectifying it may generate some balance issues.

Just a thought that crossed my mind. How would anyone feel about converting to a hex-based system? It would open up the game for online-play and play-by-email (it would also cause a lot of headaches on how to convert the torpedo system etc.).

Just curious...

Doesn't matter much to me.

On the topic of firing arcs I've recently read reports that when the Nelson class fired their X turret fired to port or starboard they had to vacate the bridge. They never fully resolved the problem even though they fitted blast curtains behind the openings and vents.
The A and B turrets had a similar effect on the mess decks which were below the forecastle.
They remedied the problem by restricting the firing arcs to bearings that didn't effect the ship.

You could eliminate the need of using the torpedo template and just use a system similar to Naval Thunder's torpedo system.

Keep it a Tabletop Game....it looks and feels better than a hex system. If you want to use hexes use them for a search map in the scouting phase.
We tested the carrier clash scenario yesterday and it did feel strange to place fleet tokens on the gaming surface close to one another.
we couldn´t make out how to move those tokens...how to move scouts etc.
Will post some more detailed questions for you in the next days

Great! Looking forward to the feedback. The 'carrier clash' and the 'weathering the storm' scenario's were quite the hardest to design, so I imagine there might still be some noise between what is in my head, what is on paper and how it actually plays out on the table. Your suggestions or criticism is very welcome.

The question is where do we go from here? The game is near perfect and doesn't need much updating. Optional rules? More fleets?